Attorney attempting America's Frontline Doctors takeover faces reprimand

Joey Gilbert, a Nevada attorney with no health care experience, claims to serve as the “Chief Strategy Officer” of America’s Frontline Doctors (AFLDS). To date, his “strategy” has not included bringing new content or programming to the organization. Instead it has consisted of an attempt to replace Dr. Simone Gold, the group’s founder, with himself, while Dr. Gold was incarcerated following her medical freedom speech in the Capitol. But this is not Gilbert’s first ethical issue.

Harming the “integrity of the profession”

In a separate scandal, Newsweek reported in December that, “Nevada GOP Candidate for Gov Joey Gilbert Faces Reprimand From State Bar for Misconduct.” That reprimand is based on Gilbert’s having damaged “both his client and his profession.”

Nevada lawyer and Republican gubernatorial candidate faces a possible reprimand from the State Bar of Nevada for allegedly harming one of his clients and hurting the "integrity of the profession." 

How to treat a client?

According to the Bar Association’s complaint screening panel, Gilbert took money from a client and then had a volunteer intern, who had not completed law school, handle the clients’ cases on their own without any involvement or supervision by Gilbert other than cashing the client’s retainer check and then dropping the client after enough time passed to be able to claim that he used up the retainer money, without even filing a lawsuit on their behalf (but telling them it had been filed).

A screening panel sent him a draft letter of reprimand over the summer alleging that he violated professional standards and bar requirements in allowing employees who were not licensed as attorneys to handle a case without oversight.

Specifically, a law student who was supposed to be supervised by Gilbert falsely indicated to a client that a petition had been filed in court when it actually hadn't. Gilbert was also accused of dropping the client after he was paid a $3,500 retainer fee four months earlier and breaching a "diligence" rule by not letting the client know sooner that he did not want to represent him.

“Your misconduct actually injured your client, albeit not substantially because he had no formal deadline for filing the petition. Your misconduct actually injured the integrity of the profession as well," Richard Williamson, the chair of a disciplinary panel, wrote in the draft reprimand letter to Gilbert.

Gilbert’s response has been to try to keep the reprimand out of the public sphere.

Joey Gilbert has not been officially disciplined yet, and he is fighting to keep it that way … The panel denied a motion from Gilbert on December 1 to dismiss the letter … his attorney Dominic Gentile ... said the draft letter was not a public record and the State Bar should not have commented on it at this stage … The letter obtained by the Associated Press was confirmed as authentic by the State Bar of Nevada.

Nevada Bar counsel Daniel Hooge responded to Gilbert by defending the Bar Association’s inquiry as necessary to protect the public:

the Office of the Bar Counsel serves as the Court's arm to investigate and prosecute claims that a lawyer has violated the Rules of Professional Conduct. Our primary goal is to protect the public.

Newsweek noted the irony of treating his clients so poorly while pointing specifically to his representation of his clients as a reason to vote for him in his failed primary challenge in the Nevada governor’s race.

To voters, Gilbert cites his legal work as evidence that he's the best choice to be Nevada's next governor and committed to fighting for the state. In stump speeches he's made across the state and shared on his Facebook page, he says the legal work he's done throughout the pandemic prove his willingness to be "in the trenches, fighting" …

The report concludes by implying that Gilbert is an opportunist grabbing headlines by supporting populist sentiment while under investigation for his treatment of an actual client. 

The panel's consideration comes as Gilbert campaigns throughout Nevada ahead of the Republican gubernatorial primary next June and files headline-grabbing lawsuits …

Rules for thee but not for me

While claiming to be the “People's Champ,” as a populist defending the citizenry from the unfair rule of elitists, Gilbert gave himself an unfair advantage over regular people. Frontline News covered Gilbert’s previous cheating scandal, in which he agreed to a suspension from professional boxing after being found with a host of banned performance enhancing substances in his system, including anabolic steroids, amphetamines, methamphetamines, oxazepam, diazepam and nordiazepam.

Trojan horse attack on AFLDS

Gilbert’s involvement with AFLDS has also been described as opportunistic by insiders. As part of his effort to take over AFLDS, Gilbert concocted an elaborate scheme in which he purchased a home with AFLDS money for an AFLDS subsidiary he set up and then falsely claimed in federal court to have discovered that that very  home was illegally purchased, without his approval (despite affirming it), in Dr. Gold’s name (despite being purchased by the AFLDS subsidiary he set up). 

What did Gilbert know, and when did he know it?

Read our previous article on Gilbert’s schemes:

Trojan horse infiltrating America's Frontline Doctors previously found guilty of cheating

AFLDS founder again tyrannized in staged embezzlement

Also be sure to check back as we continue our series on Gilbert and try to answer the following questions:

• What do the Nevada Rules of Professional Conduct and [ABA] Model Rules of Professional Conduct provide as sanctions for licensed attorneys found to have committed perjury?
• Why was Gilbert sanctioned in a recent election lawsuit?
• Why did Gilbert try to remove the doctor who founded America’s Frontline Doctors and replace her with a board of non-doctors when the very name of the organization indicates that it is run by doctors?
• Why is Gilbert claiming to be the Chairman of the Board of AFLDS while not developing any programming or activities for the organization?
• Why did Gilbert draw a very large salary from AFLDS during the entire time he was running for Governor of Nevada and was absent from the organization? 
• Who is the mysterious donor who funded Gilbert's political campaign?